Diagnosis of problems in complex information technology environments or complex information reporting situations can be a challenging task, especially when the reported system problems are sparse but serious in nature. Nearly all computing devices and environments are a combination of layers of devices and sub-devices or a complex network topology of interconnected devices. Such complex data reporting environments abound in the world of computer systems and finding the source of problems in such intricate and interlinked systems can be difficult.
At one level, there is the localized problem of a single computer with hundreds of processes, and each process may have dozens of performance counters associated with the process. In a similar manner, each single computing device is made up of multiple sub-systems or sub-computing devices which may need to be diagnosed for problems. At a higher level, there are a variety of problems in finding the sources of faults in a system involving computer networks or multiple computers.
As in many diagnosis scenarios, each suspected cause of a problem can be very expensive to pursue (e.g., checking individual machines and features). Datacenters and helpdesk operators are not interested in diagnosis methods that have support engineers wasting precious time pursuing endless false leads. Troubleshooting and diagnosis technologies that can more accurately diagnose the source of problems in complex environments can help save time and money because they aid support engineers in addressing problems more quickly.